darkagesofcybertronfandomcom-20200215-history
Stalking Goa
Back to 2010 Logs Goa Shred Slipstream Goa stalks quietly between the shards of crystal, largely obscured by them. The geographic feature was nothing new to him. He was just thankful all of it was inert material. The grounder is no champion of forethought. Were he, he might've headed straight back to Polyhex, look like everything is normal -- and it was normal, wasn't it? Nothing ought to have changed after what he learned. But it had. And it didn't take much forethought to think ahead to Slipstream or Firestorm picking up on his uneasiness. Slipstream had of coursed picked that up. But she had left him alone for awhile so he could think things out, shuffle through it all. Then she snagged Shred and told her she needed her to come with her to find Goa. She needed the backup, she explained, just in case this was going to get difficult. Shred was snagged by slipstream, but as soon as she was told it was to find Goa, she was more than happy to help. following close behind, she looks around very carefully, for any sign either of Goa, or of danger. From afar, Goa (gooey) nudges the link as he senses it closer. Goa's antennae pick up with activity not far off, and he sinks into an inset alcove of glass, biting a snarl as the shards prick his shoulder tires. Well, this was inevitable. Maybe if he didn't move ... Slipstream ignored the mental nudge, she was coming to him whether he liked it or not. And of course she knew he didn't like it. She lands outside of the valley, peering down into it. "Now you know what I have to deal with Shred." she remarks to the smaller femme, "Always hiding... secrets.. it gets a worrisome and tiresome all at once. He's trying to protect me from something.. but I wish he knew I could take it." Shred nods, and she sighs, "I get you slip. Can you pinpoint him in all of this slagging crystal? " taking her time,, she ducks past a splinter, being as quiet as she can, not wanting to cause any fractures. Goa is more than acute enough to recognize the hum of Slipstream's engine's -- not a surprise -- but it takes him a moment to place the din of Shred's. He curses under his breath. He had not expected her to drag anyone else into this, hadn't considered it, though it didn't surprise him. Or did she think he was glitched? The mech curses again as some crystal he'd destabilized above flakes off and bounces off his helmet. Then he starts counting his escape options. Slipstream is scanning, but the crystals are messing with results. So through the link she tries to see where he might be, and if that fails she just goes with where she can feel his spark. "Oh you can bet on that." she murmurs, stalking through the crystals directly toward the grounder. He can run, he can hide, but he cannot shield that spark signature if he tried. Shred nods, her own engines are actually quiet, a hypersonic whine as opposed to a great din. As a smaller aircraft she doesn't need as powerful engines. going between the crystals though is proving difficult, "Slip, I’m gonna try to get above this crap.. if you can pinpoint him, keep me appraised and I'll keep up with you." Goa seems to actually be moving toward Slipstream at a rate higher than the seeker is moving forward. He's smart enough to pick up that she isn't strictly using her sensors to navigate, so he couldn't hide, and in terrain so hostile to his vehicle mode... But he could be frustrating. He was /preternaturally/ good at that. The energy signature strafes as he tries to take a wide circle around, flashes of green and gold perhaps briefly visible through the interlocking shards, but out of reach. Slipstream continues to stalk, stepping over the shorter crystals, carefully maneuvering around taller ones. Wings flexing behind her. She acknowledges Shred's words with a clipped, "Understood." She pauses though, sensing the spark closing in, then dodging off to her right. So he's going to play it that way is he. She turns to follow after him. Shred ascends to fly just above the level of the crystals, constantly scanning below her to try and find Goa. Goa keeps circling. Frequently, he finds his way blocked, and has to skitter directly away until he can resume the pattern. He'll keep this up a while longer, and he could keep it up for cycles, but he won't. Not with Shred around. Over Slipstream's link, a few disconnected images start appearing -- Goa's parentage, his acquired memories of Crystal City -- in a desperation-tinged attempt to make her understand. Maybe make her understand why he wanted to be alone, without /fully/ explaining why. He nearly gets cornered, and has to dash over a prostrate mirror of crystal-steel to duck back into cover. At least now Shred could be assured Slipstream wasn't hunting a ghost. Slipstream keeps stalking, like a predator on the prowl, optics searching the crystals as she lets her own spark guide her to him. She tries to guess where he may go next, perhaps cut him off when he least expects it. The femme is determined to find him, the disjointed images barely dissuade her either. He's has had enough time to think over that information. It's time he share it with her, fully. "Any luck Shred?" she calls out, seeing if maybe he'll buy that as she cuts off to the left and severs that link a moment to see if she can outmaneuver him. Goa's wingless profile might've done him a favor higher up the valley wall, where the crystals are all varied and make little tunnels they're so interlaced, but here in the floor they're evened out by gravity into many separated, flat fields. Goa is too busy dealing with this disadvantage to buy or not buy much of anything, and squawks as he finds himself face to face with a black, glossy wall of seeker. He freezes a moment as that darkness seems more appropriate than ever, her thoughts obscured to him, then blasts off blindly in the opposite direction. Slipstream isn't going to let Goa get away while she has him within reach. So she pulls out one of /his/ tricks out of the bag and does a flying tackle at his back, hoping she'll catch him off guard and grab onto something, anything, before he slips away into the crystals again. Goa is (surprisingly to all parties, I'm certain) a slower flier than Slipstream. His processor is completely fixated on escape -- she'd outright told him she wouldn't be as patient the next time this happened. As he's smacked into from behind, his reflex, against environmental concerns, is to enter his vehicle mode. His wheels already spin, kicking up dust and flak behind him. One hisses and goes flat. Shred frowns, continuing to look, and she transmits to Slipstream, "No luck up here, where the slag is he Slipstream?" she is not quite where they are Slipstream grapples to get a hold of him, getting her body pummeled by crystal shards, dust, and so on isn't going to dissuade her. She keeps looking for a hold, and if she gets one she locks it into place with a death grip. "Don't make me use my lariat on you Goa." she hisses. Then she calls up to Shred, "Found him." Shred nods, "Ok, coming down.. " she twists into a dive, transforming as she does to try and actually land hard on top of Goa to bring him down, not knowing he's in vehicle mode.. if she misses, it is gonna hurt. Goa roars with pain from the gouges in his tires, though it brings him back to his senses enough to transform back to his feet and throw Slipstream from her grip on his fender. It transforms into his chest; if she doesn't let go, she'll be thrown clean over his shoulders. So much for getting out of this one, slag sake, all-- Something much smaller and faster rams him from above, slamming him face first into the ground and a skidded stop. Goa makes no point of moving. Slipstream loses her grip, but thankful he had enough sense to realize if he transformed with her hand there it would have been painful for them both. Luckily Shred drops on top of him just in time to prevent further escape. She takes her lariat off her hip and lashes up his feet, just to make sure he won't be getting away. "You can get off of him now Shred." Goa coughs pathetically, in a feint. "Alright, you win." He takes what he perceives as the calm before the storm to brush off the new scratches in his cheek. Slipstream takes hold of Goa's shoulders once Shred has stepped off of him, pulling him up into herself as she settles down and hugs him around those shoulder. She sighs, nudging the side of his helm with her own. "You are impossible, you know that." she murmurs, "Now then, you going to tell me what is going on or do I have to get nasty and dig through your cpu without regard for your feelings?" her tone is warning enough that she would do it, he has forced her hand.. much as it disgusts her to violate him.. there can no longer be secrets if either of them is to survive this war. Shred nods, getting off Goa, "Sorry for hitting ya like that Gooey." With half his ventral fans dented, disbalanced, or outright destroyed from taking flak, Goa fans off excess heat through his mouth. He growls, but isn't able to stay angry for long. Instead, he chuckles darkly. "Didn't trust me to talk on my own time. Why trust I'd give you the whole story?" He looks up at Shred in response, features and antennae tips bent downward as if to say I'm-sorry. Shred smiles, looking to Goa, "I came because Slip asked me to help her.. And besides, you're my friend, Goa, I'd rather risk my own neck than leave you to be scrapped." Slipstream holds Goa close, hands curling against his chest. "I knew you would eventually, but slag it Gooey you know full well if you out here too long and forgot to do your patrol routes that Megatron would be furious. It's more prudent that I find you, get you to talk to me, and move on." then a little sigh, "Because you cannot keep it to yourself. You are underestimating my ability to cope Goa. Do you really think so little of me?" she asks, knowing that will cut him deep, but it has to be said. This game of hide the secrets has gone far too long as it is. She smiles a little at Shred, "I wouldn't kill him. Megatron though.. not put it past him." Goa keeps up the plaintive gesture, looking Shred straight in the optic, and smiling just a click before turning his attention over his shoulder. "Was working. Wasn't coming in. Not stupid." He hold's Slipstream's hands, in a tense unsureness if he wants to pull them closer or away. "Just needed my own thoughts for a bit. Does a soldier have to give that up, too?" He chooses to simply fidget with them in place. Shred hmms, "It's neither Megatron nor you I am so concerned about, Slip, it's the damned Empties. " Goa smirks and looks down at the ground. "Empties aren't so bad." Shred says, "Unless they are starving." Goa nods slowly ... he knows. He knows all too well. Slipstream sighs softly a bit at him, waiting for him to talk about what in the pit was going on with him. "You had your time to think. I left you alone long enough. Something is troubling you." then a glance at Shred, "Why worry about them, not like they'll leave the Dead End." Goa makes a churning noise in his vocalizer that could sound something like gulping. "Crystal City.... Approached me. Explained where I came from." He leaves the hands on his chest alone. That, of course, wasn't why he was nigh psychotic. Goa had been down that road before, after all. "... So now I know. Now Firestorm has to know. Open an old wound." There. Maybe that would do. Shred looks to Slip, "Do you think there are only empties in Dead End?" Goa lowers his optic shutters just a centimeter or two. "I can handle myself around empties." Slipstream frowns a bit at Goa, then nods in understanding. "You underestimate Firestorm. She's stronger than you think." then she sighs at Shred, "No of course not. Why the sudden fascination with them Shred." Goa says nothing except a little whirr of relief. There were still volumes of other, much more worrisome things gnawing at his anxiety subroutines, but a little respite from Slipstream's prodding was better than none. Shred shakes her head slightly, "Because I know how dangerous they can be. It doesn't take the best hardware, only the right level of desperation. Goa, suppose you had encountered ME out here, before Slip found you? how I used to be? " she looks to slipstream then,,. "Have you ever been to the Grease pits?" Slipstream knows this is a distraction, "Why are we talking about this." she frowns, "Why does it matter. If they were an issue Megatron would deal with it using us anyway." she points out, "And Gooey if you think for one moment this is over, you are sadly mistaken." Goa erps a little with fear. "Would he? Good for gnoshing on stray...s," he interjects, then ducks his helmet back into his shoulders slightly. Shred shrugs, "Ok, regardless, how's about we get this the hell over with, ok? I /don't/ like being so far from Polyhex.. " Goa then blinks at Shred, somewhat confused, though less ruffledly so than Slippy. "Suppose why? I didn't." Slipstream gets to her feet, then undoes the lariat from Goa's feet. "Get your sorry grounder aft off the ground, we'll head back to the Barracks and we will /talk/. Understand me?" there's a slight grind of her denta there as she hisses those words to him. The way she said it though, it’s a commanding tone that begs you to try to press the issue. Goa stumbles to his feet, flinching as his weight shifts to his shredded treads and immediately back off. Usually, he'd jump on Slipstream's shoulders right now, if only for the sake of being irritating, and the pain made the idea all the more compelling. But he makes no maneuver to. Just stares at his hands. Shred sighs, going silent now, "There's no need for me to be here with you two, I'll see you back at base, ok?" Slipstream takes hold of Goa under his arms and lifts off. "You can come with us towards home Shred." she pauses a moment, "And we can talk later about your fears okay?" Goa flips his antennae back downward and repeats his sorrowful gesture. "See you soon, Shredder." Shred nods, "Ok Slip, I’ll stick with ya.. probably not a good idea for me to fly solo anyway --- Slipstream lands in the hanger bay, releasing Goa once she's fully on the ground. Shred lands near to Slipstream, taking a moment to look to Goa and her, "Are you two ok? " Goa lands on his knees, but has no trouble standing. He'd had no time to protest -- That was not an angle he'd flown in before, and not one he had any interest in repeating, what with the wind buffeting him. He brushes himself off, feeling over his cheek again, and smirks at Shred, "Can't say I ever am." Slipstream frowns a little, "That remains to be seen." to Shreds question, then raising a hand she points with a tone that is all business. "March." this directed at Goa. Shred nods, "I’ll see you both later.. I'm heading to the pits.." "... Pits?" But Goa still has no time to ask questions. He practically burns rubber at the speedy clip he heads further into Polyhex under. Slipstream nods to Shred, "Be safe." is offered, then follows Goa inside. --- Goa just disappears to his bunk cell. He'd briefly debated taking a public seat to be challenging ... but if Slipstream got what information she wanted, he really didn't want to be out in the open. Didn't want to be in Polyhex, for that matter. Slipstream is glad to be inside for good reason, everyone is on patrols or other duties, those that are here are in recharge. They can talk via their link and no one would be the wiser, she sits on the bunk and sighs, Goa snorts, nervously amused, as he's curling into a far corner of the bunk with wide optics. Slipstream scoots closer, hand coming to rest on your knee, Goa sighs and his optics flicker dim. Another red herring -- he tries desperately to cover up his own intent as he shows you, in remarkably clear detail, what Murusa showed him. It makes sense for it to be clear -- it's not his own memory -- but his own emotions muddle the recording in spots. Particularly the separation of his parents. Anger roils there. Slipstream watches on quietly, not interrupting the visual stimulus anymore than what little of emotion you allow to filter through. she states softly via the link, A pause then, she flexes her hand against your knee, Goa mentally hisses. Curses flash, incoherent, over his net-- <... war. Furious, livid, defeated.> He rocks his helmet forward, obscuring his red optics to slits under its edge. Then he's quiet for a while, looking at his hands again, silent at his lapse of composure. Over that. <... I'm scrawnier. She said I was supposed to be smart.> He chuckles, "Not." Slipstream nods a bit to the mech and leans over to stroke her hands over his helmet, a gesture meant to comfort and soothe. even in the flashes of what he has shown her, she had time to analyze it all and finally get down to the base of where it stemmed from.. at least she hoped she had found it. Goa raises one antenna. Well, that isn't what was bothering him. But he isn't going to reject the gesture. He gradually unfolds, but still seems tense. Slipstream let's her hands drift down to his shoulders, leaning forward so her forehead touches his. Magenta optics peering into your orange.. or are they red now.. maybe orange red. She settles for that. she points out. The mech's eyes are bright red with orange around the edges. Goa looks around, unsure whether he should be returning the stare or looking away. Classic shifty behavior, though you surely expect that by now. Slipstream isn't going to have you pulling that at all, she takes hold of your face and keeps those optics locked with her, Goa's jaw hangs as he looks up into your face. He seems to be trembling, warbling-- Goa cringes visibly as he shows you the relevant file. Files. What he said. His disregard for his allegiance, so easily set aside. Slipstream looks at it clinically, then sighs, not surprised, but also troubled by it. Why go to that effort to hide it? Because Megatron wanted troops.. he was a silver tongued charmer wrapped in a gladiator's shell. You may get that off of her as she cogitates over it. Goa still flinches and twitches with fear. He'd been expecting more ... loyalty. You know, considering Decepticon policies about treason-- that's all he sees in his feelings, the line of questioning his history is dragging him along. <... you're helping?> Slipstream is more loyal to you, to us, than the army we are both in. She makes that clear over the link, she assures. Goa practically throws himself into the seeker's arms, digging the cone of his nose into her shoulder, hard enough to aggravate the plates. He fuzzes your link with the remainders of his doubt -- his fear of Megatron since Shred's malfunction, the memory of a twinge of confusion upon the fall of Shatterquake, others... Slipstream embraces Goa back, feeling what he is sending her and understanding it, she had been afraid for you, for herself, for Shred that day with Megatron. Shatterquake, was a traitor to be dealt with at the time, not to question the orders of Megatron. Leaving him to rot there and get picked over by scavengers.. didn't sit well with her.. but she was a lowly warrior like you. It had to be that way. Then a sigh, Goa still doesn't know the whole story with Shatterquake-- he chuckles. So when a guardian shirks orders, it's a big deal worth destroying the asset over, but Megatron can't keep control of his lowliest ground troops? You feel a twinge of pride from the grounder. He leans back to rest his crest against yours again, no less clingy on the shoulders. The visages of Shark, and Torque (though not Shark AND Torque; he's still happy with nobody knowing he encountered that), and Murusa, and plenty of miscellaneous neutrals from the underground-- all transferred, as well as ... Optimus Prime? Odd choice. But they both knew the Autobot leader, sort of. Slipstream considers each of those images in turn. Neutrals would be useless to what is being sought out unless they knew an Autobot that had connections. The one you fought in that battle, Shark, low ranked not trusted by the other Bots.. oh yeah she read that profile and had to grin. Bots breaking rules to get ahead.. how totally ignoble! Prime.. that was dangerous... if Megatron found out they were courting Prime himself for answers... they'd be dead before they came back home. Murusa.. hmm.. what were her connections.. more questions than answers. Goa cocks his helmet to one side, though its point stays in place, and turns the sides of his mouth down, confused. He digs his thumbs at the sides of femme's neck cables. Slipstream's memories are vague at best, one of the perks of Academy life as a freshmen was to get exposed to all facets of what you could do with yourself in regards to occupation and so on. One said course was construction, and at the time Murusa was hailed as one of the best of the best before she retired to do security work. Goa blinks. He hadn't quite taken it all in when Murusa showed him. She didn't really seem like the constructing type, so that's the mental image that had remained. He sighs from his mouth, and shifts his arms to rest his chin on your shoulder. If he's willing to say that, the burden you just lifted from him must've been monumental. Slipstream looks puzzled a moment, then realizes you didn't get the fact that Murusa had her hands on your tiny body.. in it.. constructing it.. possibly with help at that. It was those hand that gave you structure for your spark to dwell in.. your parents were only part of the equation.. they gave you existence... life.. but in a way Murusa was just as much of a parent as they. she hugs your softly, His meaning is dual; where Goa grew up, as a transport, it was the most basic survival strategy he could think of. Maybe not so today, but the programming was still there. <... hadn't thought of it like that.> His voice is fuzzy, distracted by his own thoughts... he really hadn't seen Murusa that way. Perhaps that was because he was expecting a tyrant -- someone who would eagerly separate a pair of twins -- not a ... oddly gentle femme, now that he thought back on it. And he'd been sitting there being cold as a cryogenic unit. Slipstream frowns a little bit, She moves to sit in your lap, curling her legs against your sides, embracing you against her. she moves a little, stroking your cheek in a similar way Murusa had. "Oof." Goa smirks as you move against him, but sobers quickly. He hadn't thought of that that way either. Ugh. It didn't help if he was just turning his self-centered tendency to others -- on the other hand, others weren't Firestorm. He wasn't doing this for the war. He lays his cheek in your hand -- it's still pretty mangled -- and shutters his optics halfway. A bit of playful bitterness. Slipstream hugs you again and strokes her hands over your back, then a little smile, Goa shifts his weight backwards and clunks into an awkward wedge against the wall. He lets humor bleed over the line. Slipstream gets pulled down with you when you shift backwards, she hmms softly, she muses, There's still a wrenching in Goa's spark every time he tries to be so clear with his words. Solid memory? That's new. Or maybe it just sat well with him. One of his hands traces circles on your wing surface -- and remembers, amused, when you wouldn't let him touch them. Slipstream nods a little, laying against you and smiling a hit to the tracing hand. Goa's ankles, decorating tires still flat, flail out and thunk against things as he just falls clean onto his back. His hands withdraw and latch onto your shoulders to stabilize-- A shy giggle burbles from his vocalizer. Wouldn't seem too out of place, even to an outside observer. Slipstream hmms to the thunking, then a mental chuckle, she smiles a bit. Goa calms down pretty quickly, he was just off-guard to your weight. There are thin gouges in the wall behind him where his pointed back plates scraped it, framing his helmet. He smirks, then taps a finger on the side of his head. Slipstream hmms softly, shifting a bit to lay a bit more on top of you, straddling your hips with her legs, is all she says to that, a little mental laugh. Goa makes the same drooped-antennae, plaintive expression he made before, out in the shard valley. He isn't too sure of that laugh. He hears it more like a cackle. More confident he isn't going to slide around further or be crushed, now he can return that reassuring stroke to your cheek. <... Starscream's history. Did you ever find what you needed?> Abrupt change of topic. But, well, it is Goa. Slipstream smiles to your touch, shifting her head to peek up at you lazily. A hand is idly stroking along your chest and grill, Goa glances down, up at you, and back down again. he replies, tersely. He isn't yet sure precisely what he was trying to dissuade you about. But if he is, hey, may as well keep it around to use. One of his long hands braces your shoulder again. Slipstream watches that glancing and nods a little, then she hmms, a little humored giggle. She already knows where it is, of course. Goa's optics dart around in that nervous way they do. Count another mark on the tally of times he's been reminded of his own mortality today. But Slippy knows how to bring him back, at least. He chuckles in his net, but lays his helmet back quietly. Though he is squirming a little now that he knows your intentions. Slipstream isn't trying very hard to find a tickle spot though, she seems more intent to just stroke her hands along your chest and grill in a soothing motion. there's a little mental sigh, then she slides her hands up, taking your face in her hands as she shifts up a bit and looks you in the optics, Goa flares his optics, squirms more notably, flips his antennae forward, and overall makes a sort of '?!' expression, particularly with his slack jaw. He finds his hands go stiff -- but he forces himself to relax again. Can't get too flustered by ... that. He might not have paid it any mind if Murusa hadn't so recently shown him how well that sort of thing goes on Cybertron. <... course not, Slips.> Slipstream hmms to the optics flare, the squirm, the cute way the antennae flip forward. She smiles at the overall look, then gets that little segway of your thoughts, she kisses you softly on the lips and releases your face, resettling herself against you with a little sigh, Goa tunes his expression back down to normal. Though he's still thinking about it. Quite a bit, in fact, though it may just be the train wreck effect. One of his hands comes to rest on the back of your helmet. His sigh is a tangible thing, his chest shifting to move the air. <... didn't miss much. It's like being a minibot, but more gullible.> Slipstream smirks at that accounting of being a sparkling, she sighs a little, Or by a pathological egotist like himself. Goa tries to keep that self-jab to himself, though, unsure of how much success he'll have hiding it with a weak engine purr. 'After' was a nice thought. Something to hang onto, maybe; anything to hope for, at this point, was a blessing. But Slippy kept talking in plurals. That was funny. As best he can, he wraps his arms under your wings and tries to hug you back, around the waist. He entertains the thought. Hey, if they were going to talk about after... Slipstream nods a little, optics dimming a bit, she smiles at the hug and mentally murmurs, then she goes quiet, the sound of the engine purr lulls her to sleep. It had been a long cycle for the femme already, recharge finally caught up to her. Now you are left to your own thoughts. Ah the irony. Category:Logs Category:2010 Logs Category:Goa's Logs Category:Shred's Logs Category:Slipstream's Logs